Chris Atkins who made that Channel 4 documentary told the Media Blog that at least Thornton was honest about her tweet being paid for - by using the #ad hashtag - and said the reaction of her followers showed why some other celebrities try to keep their commercial relationships hidden.

Atkins said:

"When we were secretly filming Dynasty Media, who brokered celebrity promotional tweets, they told us many celebs didn't want to be seen to plug products on Twitter as they'd get laughed at for being seen to sell out. The reaction to the Thornton tweets show this is very much the case. But a lot of celebs can't resist the quick cash that endorsement tweets offer, which is why many mislead their fans and dress plugs up as personal opinion, in breach of ASA rules.

"There are an awful lot of dodgy tweets still doing the rounds, though I've noticed the "#ad" appearing an awful lot more since our Dispatches went out."

Thornton's tweet certainly complied with ASA guidelines and only she will know whether the money she received was worth annoying some of her followers and being associated with such a tactic.

But while Thornton waits for the cheque to clear, Twitter will inevitably have some fun:

...it seemed an unnecessary doubt to put in readers' minds given the great many irrefutable benefits of eating fruit and veg. Fortunately, with the Daily Mail's health and science coverage (sorry science, you're better than this) you know it's never going to be long before it contradicts itself. Come Wednesday the Mail was reporting:

So keep eating your vegetables. Hopefully you only stopped for a few hours.

Aug 27, 2013

After a long summer spent plugging Big Brother for its sister channel and their shared owner Richard Desmond, the Daily Star is now forced to plug Channel 5's definition-defying "Celebrity" version of the reality TV format (featuring celebrities such as Danielle Marr, Mario Falcone, Courtney Stodden, Charlotte Crosby, Lauren Harries and "Big" Ron Atkinson).

And so it was that Monday's Daily Star claimed an "EXCLUSIVE" which was actually nothing more than a retelling of an incident which was broadcast on the show on Sunday evening and could have been seen by any viewers tuning in:

Disgraced former football pundit "Big" Ron Atkinson is in trouble over a comment in the Big Brother house which was broadcast on Sunday evening. Atkinson was heard joking about whether a fellow contestant had "a bomb" under a shawl she was wearing.

This was also an "EXCLUSIVE" which The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Mail and Express all managed to get - presumably by having somebody sat in front of a television, using their ears to listen to the words being said.

All of the Star's tabloid rivals got the same "EXCLUSIVE", though they all gave it a more modest treatment than the front page splash the Star seems obliged to give Big Brother stories.

It isn't just the Star's "EXCLUSIVE" claim which seems a little disingenuous, there is also the Star's claim that "Big Ron" being embroiled in a racism row is something they find shocking.

Aug 26, 2013

Newspapers tend not to mess with their mastheads lightly but French newspaper L'Equipe obviously considered passing one million followers on Twitter a milestone worth making an exception for. The paper has celebrated its one millionth Twitter follower, and perhaps recruited a few more, by changing its print masthead for the day to its Twitter handle.

Here's how the paper looked today:

Here's L'Equipe's usual masthead:

It's a nice touch from L'Equipe and a clear acknowledgement of the importance of Twitter to newspapers looking to engage readers new and old.

Aug 21, 2013

You have no doubt seen the story this week of two British women detained in Peru on charges of drug trafficking. The media have covered the story extensively and photos of the pair being led into court certainly piqued the interest of some Daily Mail readers, who responded as only they can.

"This is going to sound awful, but..."

Began a commenter called Lady, from London, giving us fair warning that this wasn't going to go well:

"Does anyone know where the dark haired ones jacket is from?"

You're right lady, that does sound awful but rest assured, the Mail's readers answered the call and Lady soon had her answer.

"If anyone is interested... thanks to some helpful answers, I've now ordered the jacket off the Zara website (TRF) collection yay :-D"

This week a host of media outlets pounced enthusiastically upon news that tennis player Maria Sharapova was planning to change her name to "Sugarpova" in an effort to promote a range of sweets carrying the same name:

Of course Sharapova wasn't going to change her name. The world's richest sportswoman hardly needed to when the story went everywhere anyway. Now, having gained more publicity than her PR team could ever have dared hope for it has been announced that after careful consideration it won't really be happening. You don't say.

Aug 19, 2013

Here's a heartwarming family portrait for fans and members of the royal family to treasure, courtesy of the Daily Express. Look, there's Kate and Wills and baby George. And there's Grandma Diana and a story speculating about whether or not she was murdered:

The circle of life: This front page probably won't make it into George's scrapbook.

Aug 18, 2013

It wouldn't be summer without a newspaper trying to scare holidaymakers and tourist boards with claims that there's a killer shark off the coast of Britain and The People has duly obliged with this effort (right).

We're told the cut on the nose of the small blue shark pictured on the front of The People is proof that "a fearsome great white" is stalking the coastline of Britain.

According to the paper:

"Experienced fisherman Nigel Hodge watched in disbelief as a real-life Jaws tore apart a smaller blue shark on the end of his line."

The claim that the blue shark was torn apart is undermined slightly by The People's own story which makes it clear the blue shark was put safely back in the water after the photo of its injured nose was taken and while the photo suggests the blue shark may have been a bit miffed it does little to support the claim it had been torn apart by the chomping jaws of a great white. Undeterred, The People continues:

"The fearsome beast left devastating machete-like bite marks which an expert last night said could belong to the legendary man-eater. The beast that can measure 20ft and weigh two tons has long been feared to be prowling UK waters and Nigel's dramatic encounter could be the first­ definite evidence."

So it "could" be "definite evidence", which was clearly good enough for The People to put this fisherman's tale on its front page - not that anybody is being unduly alarmist here. In fact, Nigel the fisherman even says:

"I don't want to panic people or be seen as alarmist, but whatever it is needs to be caught."

And as luck would have it, Nigel "runs a charter boat specialising in sharkfishing", so amateur shark hunters descending upon Cornwall would probably be no bad thing for his business.

To give this scare story extra weight, The People built its double page spread around a library photo of a great white shark, pictured off the coast of Mexico:

SHAAAARK!!! ...oh it's OK, it's only a library photo.

Less prominent on the page is a quote from The Shark Trust which says the relatively small cut on the blue shark's nose could not have been inflicted by a great white shark. The spoilsports.

A further statement on The Shark Trust's website adds:

"The Shark Trust reports with some dismay that despite having provided advice to the contrary, corroborated by international experts... a tabloid newspaper intends to run a potentially alarmist article this weekend...

"Shark Trust Chairman, Richard Peirce, was recently shown photos of a small Blue Shark which had been bitten by another shark while being reeled in by an angler off South Cornwall. The photos showed clear bite marks and were examined by Richard Peirce, other members of the Trust board, and a...bite and dentition expert in the US.

"The unanimous view was that the bite was not caused by a Lamnid shark (eg a Great White) but by a Carcharhinus or Requiem shark."

"Parliament is out, there's not much news around so it's time for the annual Great White scare story!"

Aug 15, 2013

Spare a thought for academic Dr Jude Roberts who admitted on Newsnight on Wednesday night that she uses porn. A minute or so later the caption writers at the BBC had made the necessary changes to her billing and stripped her of her PhD.

Aug 13, 2013

Other media outlets may have seized upon Jeremy Paxman's beard as some unlikely silly season filler, but nobody has done it with quite the same enthusiasm as the Daily Mail:

That's right a "BEARD"! What madness is this?

The Mail's readers were also quick to join in. Tom Moncrieff wrote:

"The BBC should ensure all its presenters are smart, theirs are the scruffiest on TV. If you look at ITV and Sky News they have dress codes, but then they are not run by 1960s Lefties!"

Because lefties love a good beard.

Meanwhile 'White Rose', posting from Harrogate, asked:

"Is this the first step toward sleeping on park benches?"

Probably not.

Then a slightly confused Catrin in Cardiff got bogged down in a double negative before eventually making the all-important point she was put on this earth to make:

"No man, whoever he is or however good looking he is, doesn't look good sporting facial hair! It's unhygienic for a start, as you don't know what's hidding [sic] in the stubble. And I have NEVER seen a man looking good wearing a beard. I think it is attention seeking, especially for a tv presenter like Paxman. What a plonker, ugh!!"

Which just leaves it to 'Broadsword' to bring all this discussion to a close:

Twitter has responded to a barrage of high profile complaints about the issue of trolls using the social network to target offensive comments and in some instances vile threats at other users.

A post on Twitter's UK blog, attributed to the company's trust and safety director Del Harvey and UK general manager Tony Wang says:

"Over the past week, we've been listening to your feedback on how we can improve our service. You told us that we need to make our rules clearer, simplify our abuse reporting process, and promote the responsible use of Twitter."

Twitter will be rolling out an in-tweet button for reporting abuse. That is currently available on some versions of Twitter, such as the iOS Twitter app, but it will become standard for Android users and those using the Twitter.com site as well. The company has said it will also increase the number of staff working to process those reports of abuse.

Twitter has also pledged to work more closely with the UK Safer Internet Centre, including promoting its resources and advice as promoted tweets and trends.

The measures rolled out by Twitter also include an updating of its rules "to clarify that we do not tolerate abusive behaviour", though it seems likely most trolls already knew they were in breach of the rules - not to mention the law - when issuing threats online.

Twitter clearly realised it could no longer be seen not to act on an issue which was creating a storm of negative publicity for the brand as well as distressing a great many of its users. Reporting abuse should certainly be as easy as possible but as long as the platform remains free and open, Twitter's ability to keep the trolls at bay will always be limited by some users' apparent inability to behave in a civilised way.